Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Have you ever been in a run where you had to wonder what was going on in everyone else's heads?

I don't mean that in an asinine way, or even in a WTF OMG this-is-so-full-of-fail way, either. Sometimes I feel like General Taylor in Good Morning Vietnam when he tells the Sergeant-Major that he's out of line: "You're mean. And this is just radio."

Last I checked, WoW was a game. Sure, it can suck up a lot of your time, but no more than if you're a sports fanatic. (Or a crafting fiend.) But the thing is, in the end it's just a game. It's supposed to be fun, and if you start acting out for no real reason, maybe it's time for you to take a bit of a break.

For example, I took my lowbie Warlock out for a spin yesterday and queued up for a random instance. Out popped the new Shadowfang Keep. SFK isn't the kindest place for casters due to line of sight issues, but I've done it before on Neve, so I figured this wasn't anything I couldn't handle. To be honest, I needed the experience running through the renovated keep at-level before I get sucked into it in the Heroic queues, and I really needed to hammer out a rotation anyway.*

I was the only caster in a party which included a Pally tank and a Priest healer, with a Hunter and Warrior rounding out the DPS. The instance began in typical fashion, with everyone exchanging greetings and buffing up. After the first couple of trash pulls, however, one of the DPS asked if someone had a recount meter running. While the healer posted the numbers, I mentioned that the DPS stats weren't going to mean much. "They'll be all over the place," I said.

"Oh, I just want to see if my numbers are any better."

Okay, that's nice and all, but the surest way to improve your numbers if you're L19 is to get to L20. I can understand the desire to maximize your rotation --hell, I was planning on tinkering with my rotation myself-- but asking for Recount numbers like that is a sneaky way of showing off your e-peen.

We kept winding our way through the keep, and I was bound and determined not to be a spell sink on the healer and kept my use of Life Tap to a minimum. I'd run out of mana, and Life Tap just enough to get going again. After several sessions of rinse-and-repeat, we downed one of the Bosses so I took a short break to drink my way up to full. "Hang on a sec, mana," I said, noting that the healer sat down to drink too.

Did that stop the Draenei Pally? Nope. He kept right on going, as did the other two DPS.

The Warrior and Hunter overtook the Pally and took turns pulling instead. I was starting to wonder when everything was going to hit the wall, but we reached the antechamber before what used to be Arugal's old hideout, and I realized the instance was at an end.

Then I got the pop-up saying that there was a vote to kick the Draenei Pally. The reason? "He does nothing."

I am not making that up.

Yes, because a Pally running full tilt through the instance wasn't fast enough for at least one person, there was a vote kick entered instead.

I voted no, and the measure failed.

What surprised me was that nobody complained about either the Pally's or the other DPS' behavior. Typically, any of this would have set off at least something from someone, but people were tightlipped throughout the run. Well, the only complaint anyone had at all was when my Warlock bit it at the end. I was perched way up high atop the stairs, getting a great view for my DoTs and AoEs, when I got laid low by one of the last pistol barrages.** "Stay behind him when he unleashes those," one of the other DPS snipped at me.

Whatever.

For some hours after my run through that instance, I still puzzled over it. That wasn't a bad run, or a fail run, or even a nerd rage run, but what I couldn't really fathom were the motivating factors behind my puggees' behavior.

Nobody was from the same server, let alone the same guild, so that wasn't it. The Draenei Pally was already tanking at breakneck speed before he got abruptly replaced by the other two DPS, and the Pally didn't say a word. He was doing second most damage, so it's not like he was failing badly in that arena, either.***

I just wish I knew what the hell their motivation was.

*Yes, I'd read several of the guides online, but I believe that it's important to work some things out yourself. Besides, I'd specced as Affliction, which isn't the best PvE spec out there. For BGs, on the other hand...

**This is akin to the last boss in Vortex Pinnacle's instance-wide attack; even though I wasn't what would be considered the field of fire in any regular environment, Godfrey's attack apparently extends all the way to the roof.

***If anything, I was the one limping along with substandard DPS in my quest Whites and Greens. But I also had the lowest level of the bunch.

4 comments:

I honestly try not to think too hard when it comes to puggers. I think it's like the "If you look into the void too long..." thing. I can't fathom them either. I sure wish I'd run into a friend now and again. I can't wait for Real ID to allow cross-server grouping!

@Vid-- Normally, I wouldn't have bothered, But normally I can figure out people's motivations. This one just got under my skin because things were just so, well, weird. I've seen tanks who plow ahead and the healer stops healing, or tanks who are suddenly demoted and they're the instigators of vote-kicks (or tirades). But this was so unreal, I kept wondering if I'd been drinking (I hadn't.)

Sounds to me like the hunter and warrior were of the "gogogo" variety and decided to take matters into their own hands, expecting the pally to take a hint and try to overtake them to get aggro first again. When he didn't, they concluded that he was a useless tank.

You could ask why nobody said anything, but I think that's really pretty par for the course for pugs - many people just seethe quietly to themselves when something annoys them and then burst out with an aggressive comment or a vote kick out seemingly of nowhere.

As for Godfrey, I think you used to be able to avoid the pistol barrage at the top of the stairs but apparently Blizzard didn't like that so they changed it. When I'm at range I now always stand at the bottom of the stairs and step behind them to break LoS if a barrage comes my way.

@Shintar-- The strange thing was that all three were "gogogo", it's just that the Hunter's pet and the Warrior's rush talent were quicker than the Pally's own close. Ret is the only Pally to get Long Arm of the Law so that you can close on a Judgement, so the Pally was perpetually at a disadvantage.

In fact, I'd be shocked if the Warrior and Hunter stopped to loot at all, which was just bizarre.

Oh yeah, I wasn't pleased about the barrage being set in that manner. Considering all of the LoS issues that ranged toons have throughout the rest of the instance, it would have been nice to allow that tendency to continute.